The Public Broadcasting Service’s most prominent news program, the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, fails to present a representative spectrum of sources and opinions in its broadcasts, according to a report by the media monitoring group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. The report reveals that during the period examined NewsHour sources were predominantly white, male, and Republican, and that public interest groups received the least airtime. FAIR concludes that the lack of balance in the public television program is only slightly less significant than in network newscasts.

The investigation studied the NewsHour from October 2005 through March 2006, and included all on-air sources. The results showed that males accounted for 82 percent of all sources cited. Minority sources made up 15 percent of the sample, although minorities comprise about 31 percent of the general population. Where party affiliation could be ascertained, Republicans dominated Democrats by two to one.

I lost my faith in PBS at W's inauguration protest rally when thousands turned out to diss him. As we were boarding our bus for home someone had the radio on full blast and it was PBS evening news and not one mention of the massive rally was mentioned! When I got home I did some research on PBS and I really found out why they did not report anything. Bush operatives have invaded PBS and keep rein on reporting so it is bland and very Republican right wing. No more free wheeling for PBS and now it just another pap mill like all the rest. Further investigation revealed that the public air waves that were opened up have been bought up by all the big pigs in the corporate media mix. So we are screwed again and have no voice. Now the talk is Internet II and when that happens I am going to take my computer out the the range and let go a few rounds of 30.06 rifle fire and demolish the sonfobitch! Where will we go for truth then my brothers and sisters?

911bld7, I have to beg to differ. I listen to PBS/NPR religiously and more often than not, you will hear many, many things that never make it to mainstream media at all. Oftentimes, PBS/NPR seems to be nearly as caught up as the blogosphere (which we know is generally a week or so ahead of the big media). Something else I enjoy greatly about PBS/NPR is that while it is an American product, it doesn't just regurgitate the crap that fills most other news channels and instead spends a good deal of time informing its listeners about the entire world, not just tiny snips of foriegn affairs, but entire programs and series about the entire world that are far more indepth than most other stations.

I will admit that since the Bush administration has come to power, they have attempted to reign in PBS's ability to report, but I think, on the whole, they have failed. I think a great deal of that is because the current administration doesn't put much faith in PBS listeners. Most people think you are strange if you listen to PBS/NPR, and Bush is more about controlling the masses, not the few that listen to PBS/NPR. I will guarantee that PBS/NPR listeners are far more informed than TV news viewers.

I'm off to find some info about all this. I hope you reconsider your opinion of PBSNPR.

---Edit:

Here is a released report:

Quote:

Almost shocking was the extent to which Fox News viewers were mistaken. Those who relied on the conservative network for news, PIPA reported, were “three times more likely than the next nearest network to hold all three misperceptions. In the audience for NPR/PBS, however, there was an overwhelming majority who did not have any of the three misperceptions, and hardly any had all three.”

OK, thanks for the responses to try and convince me to change my mind. Let me just say once more, PBS SUCKS! Now, about Bill Moyers, I put him in the class of TV talking heads that have come full circle. Robert Strange McNamara that SOB secretary of state during the Viet Nam Invasion did the same thing in his movie Fog of War. Full circle as he looked ready for the grave. These old guys should have aligned themselves with the majority of us that wanted out. McNamara even admitted he was a war crimminal in that movie. Now Moyers is the darling of truth? I remember when he was mouthing the establishment BS when he was a talking head. I don't forget these people and when they change ships, I deny them passage.

You must have watched and observed the MSM once upon a time which helped you to understand things and led you to this point of your life. Seems you got your information from the MSM in the past. It gave you the ability to judge accurately using your reason. How do you know what to believe in now when you limit yourself to one side of the story? Would you continue to have an objective view if you didn't have another side to the story?

We all agree that there are problems with the news media and TV especially, but as a person who claims to be informed, if you don't keep an observers unbiased approach, how can you make subjective conclusions. These sources, like Democracy Now and Bill Moyers are the only ones that seem to give another side to the news that remains somewhat involved in the sane normal world. If we depended only on what they say as independant views, what can we compare anything we see, hear, feel, to? We need the MSM as well to compare the facts and see who's lying. None of us want to accuse the government of things they aren't really responsible for- only for what they are actually doing wrong.

You can be a conscientious watcher and change the channel or turn it off, but what bits of info are you missing? Unfortunately the media is the message and massage all at once. It is up to us to source as many of these places as possible and then make decisions on all the information we can gather.

If we don't we're limiting our lens on the world and can't possibly continue to see the forest for the trees, or vice versa- both sides of the story. Don't limit your knowledge, expand it by not censoring information- even if it's false- because how will you know without searching ALL sources. This is why we keep an eye on even Focks Muse too.

Know thy enemy and learn who your friends are. If information is your enemy, then learn again why you must make it your friend. Remember, you can always walk away from friendship, just like turning off a TV. You don't have to marry yourself to a friend, and you can always make new friends, after you know what friendship really means.

I'll keep searching and accepting information whereever I can get it. I have my built in crap detector and it seldom fails to be attuned to the truth. The more I learn, the more I can reason truth. That is the only reason to source all sides! Pattern recognition isn't enough to assume facts- we need every scrap of information to make an accurate assessment of facts. That is why creationism is profoundly appealing, but with information I can assess, it as a fairy tale and evolution is more acceptable as to the facts available. Perhaps when facts were controlled and dictated, we didn't need to search for reasons to be, but we all grew up from limiting our information. By using the bible as a reference we can actually find the realities that the bible couldn't predict because people didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle. They didn't seek out the information necessary because it wasn't available to them. They believed because they convinced themselves they already had all the answers. But as we know, this obsolete belief system is dependant on us swallowing bullshit as a way to baffle us all.

Sorry but I can't let go of the other side, as they give me many of my talking points by example. I can't restrict information from all sides or I will have to accept a limited world view, a created reality, much like religion has done. People create their own reality all the time whether they're aware of it or not. If you're going to be one of these people then you limit your possibilities to change opinions, and so become fixated by your own musings.

Personally, I don't think these old guys can accept that their country could have another side that is the antithesis of what they project themselves to be. It takes a lot of soul searching and reversal of ideals to break the barriers of society. We are so fortunate to have the internet or I'm sure most of us would remain blissfully ignorant too. It takes information to free the chains from our minds. These old guys are finally getting it! Better late than never!

I don't blame you for being turned off the MSM. It revolts me too, but I tolerate it for informations sake. When I've had too much, I turn it off or switch the channel. Good discussion topic anyway. Thanks 911bldg7 for your honesty on this topic.

_________________Completely sane world
madness the only freedom

An ability to see both sides of a question
one of the marks of a mature mind

911bldg7, in Fog of War, Robert McNamara was grappling with what he had done. Isn't it better that a person finally understands the mistakes he has made?

And Bill Moyers has talked many times about his days in the White House when he didn't see things clearly. That is why he is better able to understand the fog people in an administration work under. Who better to get to the truth than someone who knows what it is like to have his brain numbed by being too close to power? He learned from his mistakes.

And just hope God doesn't judge us the way we judge others or NONE of us will make it to heaven.

listen to npr radio every morning at 5am on my way to work......gets me up to speed about the REAL news.

they don't seem to spend a whole lot of time on the rampant fauxnews like what's goin on with brittany spears frickin rehab and the rest of the gunk that the rest of the main media attempts to pass off as real news.

and it's true that the bushicons have made some moves to attempt to cut off funding that helps out npr/pbs. guess they don't like the constitutionaly backed idea of a free and open press corps.

if martial law is ever declared you'll have 1 station/network to cover all the lies that will be taking place...............

Bill Moyers said he is not taking any money from PBS for his new show. He is getting backing from his one corporate sponsor that has been with him for a very long time and does not even try to influence his show, and from foundations.

John Stewart on Bill Moyers Journal tonight--check your PBS schedule for time in your area.

Using this message for a general comment on PBS --

Long, long ago PBS went under when it was financed by petroleum companies.

Of course it offers something more than Fox -- but it isn't properly informing the public as it should.

As for Bill Moyers -- yes, he is reporting some stuff that the public won't hear on Fox or ABC.
But -- not in a way which will get anyone up off their couch.

Bill Moyers is questionable, IMO --
He had a long history with LBJ and I don't recall him at the time standing against the war. On the contrary.
Much later, we learned that he and Pierre Salinger in LBJ's White House understood LBJ to be "clinically psychotic" -- and Salinger has discussed this. Not Moyers as far as I know.

And, certainly -- neither of them discussed it at the time - -!!!

Is that a way for officials to protect citizens and our Constitution?

We won't regain PBS/NPR until we have publickly funded licenses for broadcasting.

And until we have publickly financed campaigns for elective office which keep corporations out of our elections.

We won't regain PBS/NPR until we have publickly funded licenses for broadcasting.

And until we have publickly financed campaigns for elective office which keep corporations out of our elections.

I agree with what you say here. However, I believe you read far too much into the quote you were addressing.

Bill Moyers indeed has said he was far too 'into' Washington politics when he was serving in Johnson's administration. He said that is why he can see how people are drawn into the 'fog of Washington' when they are surrounded by the heady atmosphere of raw power. That doesn't make it right, it just is.

Quote:

Much later, we learned that he and Pierre Salinger in LBJ's White House understood LBJ to be "clinically psychotic" -- and Salinger has discussed this. Not Moyers as far as I know.

Obviously, you don't care enough for Bill Moyers to listen to him. He isn't about pummeling anyone, as angry as he is with Bush he doesn't say the kinds of things about him you want him to say about Johnson.

We all have a right to our own opinions of course, so you will continue to put down someone I totally enjoy. And I will continue to enjoy him.